Shower Worship, Midnight Prayer Sessions

 and House Cleaning Sermon Time

 

Did you know that church is not the only place and time to worship the Lord in song, intercede for others and listen to God’s Word being preached?

Tonight, as I washed away the dirt and grime from my days work, I had a worship session. Yes, you read that right! In the shower. A time of worship.

As my hubby has been away quite a bit for work lately, I have taken to playing my worship music (as loud as possible, mind you), while I have a shower. And as I listen to the message in the songs, I praise God for his goodness to me. With each song, a different message is sung, sometimes reminding me of God’s love for me, other times bringing up memories of past victories in my life, but always, they encourage me to praise him.

Music is very powerful, and for me, it’s a very necessary part of my life! I need good music in my life as it helps me get through my days, when time does not allow me to sit and read the Word of God. Good music has the power to lift your spirits. It has the power to teach you wondrous truths about God. It has the power to convict and rebuke. It has the power to speak to you like nothing else can at certain times in your life.

And so, I enjoy my worship sessions in the shower. Sometimes I sing along, and other times, I just let the water and the music soak in. As the water cleans away the dirt, the music soothes my soul and washes away the lies I’ve told myself, the doubt, the fears, the discouragement, the weariness, the hurt, and the cares of the world that weigh on my shoulders. And for a few minutes, I am transported into the presence of the Lord, singing praise to him, thanking him and worshipping him, standing in awe of him and offering a sacrifice of praise.

You really can worship in so many places, other than just on a Sunday morning during the worship time and congregational singing.

And while I’m sharing secrets, here’s another one. I love to have midnight prayer sessions. Or early morning prayer time. Or anytime of night communing with God.

Here’s how it works for me. I’m not someone who is able to sleep through the night. I wake up quite frequently and sometimes, I find myself very awake and alert. These are the times that I take a moment, or a few minutes, depending on how long it takes to fall back asleep, to pray.

I often think that God wakes me up specifically to pray for someone that he lays on my heart at that very moment.

I love the quote I read years ago, “Don’t count sheep, talk to the Shepherd”.

I love that we can come to God at any time of day or night, and he is listening. He never sleeps. He is always awake and alert to our cry.

Psalm 121:4 KJV - Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

We never have to worry that we’ll have to wake him up to cry out to him.

When we wake with anxiety and the panic sets in, we can cry out to him and he hears us.

I cherish these times alone with God. All is quiet. There are no distractions. I rest in his everlasting arms, and I pray until I fall asleep. It’s like the Lord Jesus is rocking me back to sleep. “Rest on, he says. You have brought me your petition, you have cast your care upon me, rest on and leave it with me”.

And so, we don’t have to wait until the mid-week prayer meeting or the monthly Bible study to meet together and pray. We can pray alone with God at any time.

Another one of my favourite things to do is to listen to sermons or Bible lessons, podcasts and teaching while I do my chores around the house.

If you happen to come by my house when I am cleaning, or hanging the washing, or baking or basically anything other than studying, you’ll almost certainly find me listening to a sermon. I call myself a ‘serial sermon listener’.

I love to hear God’s Word preached and I love to hear Godly men and women expound the Scriptures and teach me from the Bible what I need to hear and how I need to live my Christian life.

Often, I have to stop and dry my hands, hit pause, and grab a pen and paper, because I need to take notes or jot a verse down. But oh, how blessed we are to be able to have at our fingertips, access to good, wholesome, convicting, encouraging, teaching and preaching based on the Word of God.

I encourage you to fill your heart with Godly music and teaching on a regular basis. It’s amazing how much you can learn while you fold a load of laundry or clean out a kitchen cupboard or bake a cake.

Those chores you do that don’t require serious thought are the perfect opportunity to focus on something that teaches you and encourages you to seek after God.

And if you are in a season of life where you have little ones running around and it’s just too difficult to take in a sermon as you’d miss too much, don’t lose heart. Download an audible Bible app and listen to the Word of God being read.

Firstly, it’s good to hear the Bible read over and over as you hear different things each time and learn new truths from the Word of God. If you happen to miss some verses while you’re tending to a little one, you will still gain benefit from what you have heard.

 Secondly, it will do your children good to hear God’s Word being read. You may find that they listen along and begin to ask questions. Your children need to see that you love the Word of God.

Psalm 119:97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

The reason I’m sharing this, is because I want to encourage you to make time in your day for God and his Word.

This is apart from your quiet time with the Lord. This is separate to your worship time and prayer time with fellow believers. This is a time for you to come to him in prayer, come with lifted hands, open ears and hearts, excited and determined to praise him and to learn from him.

Don’t let shower time, or wakeful nights or boring chores keep you from spending time in God’s presence.

There is always time for worship. You just have to MAKE it!

There is always time for prayer. You just have to MAKE it!

There is always time to listen to God’s Word. You just have to MAKE it!

You have to make the choice to use different blocks of time that are out of the normal to spend with God.

Set aside a time that you’ve never thought of using, to have a time of prayer, or to praise God in song. Listen to good, solid teaching regularly and make use of the audible part of you Bible app.

 

Begin today! And watch your mood change and your spirits lift!

 

Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

Psalm 34:1, 3 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. ... O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

 

 

 

Are you guilty of “Quiet Quitting” 

in your spiritual life?

 

Is anyone familiar with the term “quiet quitting”?

It seems to be a term that is coming up quite frequently of late in conversation, news articles and social media. In fact, the hashtag #Quietquitting has racked up an astronomical number of views. Over 17 million views according to one source.

It is basically the practice of doing the minimum amount of work required for one’s job. It is mentally and emotionally checking out from your job, putting in little effort and enthusiasm, not agreeing to do extra tasks you feel are not in your job description. It is essentially doing the bare minimum needed to keep your job.

The term doesn’t refer to actually quitting your job, but you reduce your productivity and the amount of work you perform, without notifying your employer, slowly decreasing the things you don’t think you should do, or feel are above and beyond what you think the job deserves and requires.

Quiet quitters don’t take their job too seriously, they take time out often, are less motivated, dissatisfied and expect more pay for any extra work done and don’t believe in overtime!

Quiet quitting is often taken on by those dissatisfied in the workplace because of burnout or disengagement or simply deprioritizing work in favour of other things in life.

It is quite simply pure, unadulterated, LAZINESS! Selfish, slothful, laziness!’

Don’t get me wrong. I wholeheartedly believe that we need to balance our work life and our personal life and not become workaholics, money driven, no rest, no breaks type workers.

But in the last couple of years, there seems to be an abundance of lackadaisical people in the workplace, addicted to pleasure and only pleasing themselves, customer service has gone out the window and general politeness along with it. It’s a sad and sorry state of affairs to see so many people, young and old, with a poor work ethic and a desire to withdraw socially into self-centred activities and disengagement.  

So why am I talking about this on a blog that focuses on growth in your Christian walk and relationship with Christ?

I have become increasingly aware that many Christians are ‘quiet quitting’ their spiritual life.

What do I mean by that? I believe that many Christians are content to do the bare minimum when it comes to their Christian walk.

They are content to attend a Sunday morning service, once a week, read a nice 3-minute devotional, some quaint inspirational quotes based on Scripture, a Psalm for the day if they have time up their sleeve and carry on, knowing they have a place in Heaven, but with no desire to further the gospel in their part of the world or build their relationship and knowledge of the Lord.

They lack enthusiasm to read their Bibles with more than a cursory glance. They have no desire to dig deeper into the Word of God, studying and meditating on the truths and promises found there. There is no passion for the lost, no passion for a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the Lord, no inclination for service in God’s work and no longing to spend time with God’s people, fellowshipping and encouraging each other.

Now I know that there are many who are passionate in their Christian walk and have a fervency about them, and I am so glad that we are blessed to be one of that number or know many who are.

But it is sad to see that in general, as we look around our churches and listen in on the conversations held after the service, there is an apathy towards spiritual matters.

Bible illiteracy is at an all time high. People just don’t read their Bibles. And as a result, they don’t know their Bibles.  Or they focus on only the ‘likeable’, more popular passages.

In the book of Timothy, we read many instructions from Paul to Timothy. One of these is found in verse 13.

1 Timothy 4:13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

In this verse, Paul encourages Timothy to read. And I don’t think he was thinking of news articles and social media posts. In addition to what we read, and we do need to be informed, we need to make sure we are reading our Bibles and not only reading but studying.

We should desire to become students of the Word. I recently taught a Bible study lesson on a particular verse in 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

I unpacked it, word for word, and we looked into exactly what was meant by study here in this context. It was interesting to learn that the word ‘study’ here in this verse (used 11 times in the Bible), translates in the Greek as Spoudazo. Which has the meaning of endeavour, do diligence, be diligent, give diligence, labour. To exert oneself. To make effort. To strive. Be earnest. To hasten.

Maybe in a future post, I will be able to share more of what God taught me, but needless to say, I was more convinced than ever of the need to be in the Word of God. Soaking and saturating my soul with it, meditating on it, studying it, digging into it. Observing, interpreting and applying it.

We need to rid ourselves of the ‘quiet quitting’ mindset. In our workplaces, in our home lives, but ESPECIALLY in our spiritual lives.

We can’t live fruitful, abundant, blessed lives if we quit on God!

There are many verses in the Bible that exhort us to give our all to Christ and be fervent and passionate about our Christian walk.

Luke 10:27 KJV - And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Jeremiah 29:13 KJV - And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Notice the phrase “all your heart”? That doesn’t sound like quiet quitting, does it? It sounds like passion. It sounds like fervency. It sounds like someone who puts in great effort. It sounds like someone with some enthusiasm.  

Have a look at this passage in Romans. If this isn’t a passage that goes totally against quiet quitting, then I don’t know what is!

Romans 12:9-16 - 9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; 13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

A love without pretence. Kind. Not lazy in business – well there’s a pretty direct command against quiet quitting right there! Passionate. A servant. Patient. Hospitable. Turning the other cheek. Rejoicing together. Being likeminded. Humble.

It just goes on and on. The Bible encourages us to be good workers. There are countless verses to mention here, but I will draw your attention to a very familiar one.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-11, 13 - 10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. ... 13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

The Bible is pretty clear that if you don’t work, you shouldn’t eat! Ouch. And yet another blow to the quiet quitters.

But back to our spiritual lives and where our passions should lie.

Psalm 119 is one of the best Psalms in the Bible in regard to the Word of God and its importance in our lives. Over and over, you find verses that sing the praises of God’s Word and a love for the words of Scripture.

Psalm 119:97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

I want to sing along with the Psalmist this beautiful verse. I long to grow a desire in my heart and soul that craves the Word of God and that wants nothing more than to meditate on it day and night.

I don’t want to be satisfied with a surface Christianity, a watered-down version of faith-based living, a lazy reader of the Word, with a neglect for study, a skim reader of only popular passages.

NO! I want to live an abundant Christian life. And that means I have to get serious about living for him. I have to get serious about serving him. I have to get serious about studying his Word. Pouring over every letter. Squeezing every last drop out of what I read and applying it to my life, letting God purify me and make me more like him.

If you have lost your zeal and passion for Christ and his Word, if you’ve lost the desire to feed on his Word daily and fellowship with other believers or share the gospel with a lost world, then maybe your wood is wet!

Maybe you need to throw some more wood on the fire, stoke up the coals, turn up the heat and burn brightly for Christ.

John Wesley once said, “Set yourself on fire, and men will come to watch you burn”.

Don’t quiet quit on God. Don’t let your passion for his Word die down. Don’t let your joy of fellowship decrease. Don’t be content to only feed on what others teach you about what the Word of God says. Look into it for yourself. Read it. Study it. Share it.

Don’t mentally and spiritually check out on God. Don’t let your enthusiasm for him waver. Don’t be content with putting the bare minimum amount of effort into your relationship with God. Yes, you can be secure in the knowledge that you will spend eternity in Heaven but don’t let that make you feel free to be apathetic towards the commands in Scripture.  

Don’t be a ‘meh’ Christian. Shrugging the shoulders, indifferent to God and others, neglecting the reading of God’s Word, going with the flow of passive, illiterate, half-hearted Christians.

A quiet quitter Christian is a lukewarm Christian, and we know how God feels about that!

Revelation 3:15-16 KJV - I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Don’t be a quiet quitter!

Resolve to follow Christ with all your heart. Not some. But all!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Seek him with all your heart

Love him with all your heart

Praise him with all your heart

Follow him with all your heart

Serve him with all your heart

And live out his will with all your heart

And do it with fervency! And with passion! And zeal!

With ALL YOUR HEART!

 

Colossians 3:23

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily,

as to the Lord, and not unto men;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Can Make it Through Depression and Anxiety

As I sit here this afternoon, a soft breeze blows through the trees, making its way through the open door of my little study and with it the sounds of birds singing. The temperature is just perfect, a typical dry season day here in the Northern Territory.

I sit at my computer, reading over past articles I’ve written and posted on my blog. I glance through the titles of articles written by other men and women that I have saved to my computer for future reference. And as I do, one title jumps off the screen at me.

“Having anxiety or depression doesn’t mean your faith is flawed”.

Upon reading this, I am reminded of a time, 5 short years ago, at this very same time of year, when I began to experience panic attacks and deep dark bouts of depression that saw me spiral down and down to the point that I needed medical help to bring me to a place where I could think straight and focus on what God needed to teach me.

This depression seemed to hit me out of the blue, with no prior warning. We had just returned from an epic camping trip through the deserts of Western Australia and within six months we would celebrate our third daughters’ wedding.

I was suddenly hit by insomnia, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, mood swings and everything seemed to go dark in my world.

I was struggling emotionally on a level I had never experienced before, and I had no idea how to deal with it and neither did my family.

I couldn’t confess to anyone how much I was struggling; I was ashamed and fearful of how I would be viewed. I didn’t want to hear that “you’re just not reading your Bible enough” or “you’re just not praying enough”. And I didn’t want to hear Christian platitudes, that although well-intentioned, are often more harmful than helpful.

Yes, it’s true that “God has a plan” and we should “trust and not worry” and “just have faith” and “pray about it”. But I’ve found that Christians often use these phrases because they don’t know what else to say and they want to sound like they care in a spiritual way, while silently judging the person in need. Do you know how I know this is true? Because I have been guilty of doing the exact same thing.

I had always thought that people who struggled with depression must not be saved. And I was not very compassionate towards those struggling in this way. Weren’t Christians overcomers and not supposed to be filled with anxiety and depression? Wasn’t their faith in God sufficient to keep them from dealing with these sorts of things?

And so, I battled along, hiding my pain, fearful of my future, lonely and hurting. And I managed to, for the most part, put on a brave face on the outside, but on the inside, I was falling apart. I knew I wasn’t okay.

I tried to make it through my days, going through the motions, trying my best to hide what was going on inside, dealing with it as best I could, by trying to distract myself through work or watching a movie or reading a book or trying unsuccessfully to sleep it off.

But the darker it got in my ever-increasing and suffocating world, the deeper I went into the abyss of depression and anxiety. And then the doubts came creeping in. Doubts about my standing with the Lord. Doubts about my salvation. Because, in my mind, how could anyone dealing with depression actually be a Christian?

As I sunk deeper and deeper into the darkest pit I had ever known and as I cried out to God for mercy, I began to study His Word and search for answers. I began to realise that God’s people can go through times of darkness and still be one of his children.

I began to read of the many examples in the Bible of Godly men who went through periods of dark and deep despair. Of course, the main one that stood out to me was King David. Just read through the book of Psalms and you’ll see what I mean.

Psalm 13:1-2 How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

Psalm 56:8 - Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?

David faced many dark days and periods of sadness; he expressed it to God and then got back to his feet and spent time praising God for his goodness to him.

Psalm 13:5-6 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

Even Moses dealt with despair and wished to die.

Numbers 11:14-15 KJV - I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

Elijah struggled with dark thoughts and asked God to bring death upon him.

1 Kings 19:4 KJV - But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

These were heroes of the faith who confessed to God that they would prefer to die rather than live in their current reality. But did you notice that neither were rebuked by God for expressing their feelings or struggling with these thoughts. Instead, they were met with God’s love and God’s provision.

Sadness is not condemned. It is a part of life. Even the Lord Jesus wept over the death of Lazarus.

There are many thoughts on the subject of depression in Christian circles. But we have to realise that God gave us emotions and it is okay to express them. We just have to be careful they don’t control us.

Depression and anxiety are not exclusively a medical issue, and neither are they exclusively an emotional or spiritual issue.

It is not wrong to be depressed. But it is wrong to give up on God when we are depressed. God doesn’t leave us. It is us who walk away from him. He is still there.

Being depressed does not mean we are no longer a child of God.

John 10:27-28 KJV - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Sometimes anxiety and depression are brought about because of sin, but that is not always the case.

Job was tried and proved faithful, but he struggled with dark thoughts “My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul’. Job 10:1 and yet “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” Job 1:22

I thought that because I was faithfully serving the Lord in ministry, spending time in the Word, raising my family according to the Word of God the best I could, having a good relationship with my husband, that I would never face anything so devastating as the period of darkness I went through.

I never dreamed that I would find myself lying on the cold, hard concrete in a darkened storeroom, crying out loudly to God to help me, begging Him for mercy, asking for Him to illuminate my darkness and take away the pain.

But what a work God wanted to do in me. We don’t always understand why God allows us to go through things, and we can’t control our circumstances, but we can always control HOW we respond to them!

God was doing a purifying work in my heart. He saw something in me that needed refining. I had to be taken down into the pits of despair in order to rise up in praise, thanking Him for His amazing goodness to me.

I will admit, I didn’t always respond correctly to the trial, I mostly reacted. But as time went on, and I was able to dig out precious promises in the Word to hold on to, my heart began to change. God began to soften my heart and give me a compassion for others like I’d never had before.

He helped me to look at others with different eyes. And so, I began to pray that no matter what I went through, God would use it to help others, when, and not if, I came through the other side. I came to fully believe that he would help me through.

I asked God that He would use my time of trial to help others. I didn’t want to learn the precious promises found in God’s Word and keep them to myself. I wanted to be able to share them.

And God did a miracle in my heart. I began to have a burden for Ladies Ministry. Something I’d never really been interested in before. I began to desire to minister to other ladies and share what God was teaching me. I longed to have more time to study God’s Word. I craved more quiet time with Him.  I looked forward to time in His Word every day.

My time of not being okay, changed my heart and set me on a path of soul searching and digging into the Word of God regularly, longing to hear from him.  

Did God have to put me through my trial in order for me to look to Him more? Was I trying to do everything in my own strength and God wanted to bring me to a place that would bring me to my knees, at His feet, totally reliant on Him?

I think God was trying to bring the impurities in my life to the surface so he could purge them from my life and make me more like him. He wanted to create in me a compassion for others hurting and struggling. He wanted to throw out the critical spirit that I harboured inside and replace it with love.

So, if you find yourself in a place of darkness today and you are fighting to keep your head above water, remember, it’s okay, not to be okay. There will come times in your life, where everything is not okay, and you struggle on a day-to-day basis. God never promised that the Christian walk would be easy.

John 16:33 - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

We are told that difficulties will come, and for some, such as myself, times of depression and anxiety will come, no matter how much we strive to be followers of Jesus. No matter how often we spend time in His Word.

But, although there will be times when you’re not okay, you can still look to God and rest in the hope of eternal salvation and his goodness to you.

If you know you’re not okay, then stop, and lay it all out before the Lord. He already knows your heart, and He knows all about it, but He longs for you to come to Him, humbly, submitting to His perfect will and asking Him for help.

We do not have to be perfect to come to God. We can’t be. It’s impossible. We come to Him in our brokenness, and He heals us. We come to Him in our weakness, and He gives us strength.

We can be not okay and still come to God. We can come in our sad and miserable state, and He holds out His arms of mercy and love. We can admit to Him and to others that we are not okay, and He can bring comfort to our weary souls.

Share what you’re feeling with a trusted friend and pray together. Laugh and cry together. It’s really important that you reach out and ask for help. Don’t try and go it alone.

We were never meant to do life alone. God built us for community, and we are to grow in our Christian lives together, building each other up and edifying and encouraging one another.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 KJV - Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

It’s not easy, sharing my frailties and insecurities like this, but I think it’s so important to be truthful and let others know that although someone may look like they have it all together on the outside, no one is perfect, everyone has times of pain and hurt and there will be times when you’re not okay, and that’s okay.

Just don’t stay there. The only way you’re going to get out of the deep, dark hole of depression and anxiety, is up! There’s no other way. You have to climb up. You have to look up. You have to make a conscious choice to reach out to Jesus and hold to his promises, trusting in his faithfulness and his unconditional love.

Psalm 34:18 KJV - The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

There has to be an upward progression.

You may start on your face in pity and despair.

But rise to your your knees in humility and pour out your heart to God in prayer.

Experience his healing hand on your life. Reach out to him and rest in his everlasting arms.

Then jump to your feet in praise and rejoicing in the victory God has given you!

And once you are on solid ground, get excited about your past victories and share them with others. You never know what an encouragement you might be to someone in a dark place, longing to know if there is hope and life after pain.

Let me tell you, from someone who has been there and come through and up into the light, there is life after pain and hurt and depression and anxiety.

God has given me new breath in my lungs, a new song in my heart, new promises to hold to, and a thankful spirit that wants to shout his praises for all to hear.

Sing along with David, the Psalmist, this song of praise!

Psalm 145:1-21

David's Psalm of praise. I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

 

 

 

One of Those Days

 

Do you ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go to plan? What could go wrong, inevitably does. The jobs you thought would be simple, turn into insurmountable mountain climbing experiences. The small to do list turns into a 500-word essay, with many edits, add ons, retractions and not a whole lot of ‘done’ check marks.

Do you ever sigh and moan, “It’s just not my day”.

It’s on these days that we can begin to doubt that God really knows what He’s doing. We know He is in control, but we wonder if He really understands what we’re going through and how much we can really handle.

Does He truly understand the stress we’re facing? The anxiety, the pressures, the exhaustion, mentally and physically. Will He be able to help us hold our heads above the waves? Will He keep our feet from slipping?

I’m here to tell you that Yes, He will.  And yes, He does. It doesn’t matter what we’re facing, how hard the wind is blowing or how high the waves are, He knows all about it and He cares.

The Psalmist reminds us that our days are the days the Lord has made.

Psalm 118:24 KJV - This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

We may think it’s just not our day, but God has ordered it and who are we to go against him?

Sometimes I’m sure the Lord has a sense of humour. He looks down at us, running around like busy little ants, merrily planning our days activities, possibly without thought of what He would have us do, and He steps in and tweaks our day a little, so that we have to rely on Him and trust Him more than we have been.

He gently reminds us that He is in control and that although we feel that we can’t handle the chaos that swirls around us, He is the peace in the midst of the storm. He is who we need to cling to when we’re overwhelmed.

Psalm 61:2 - From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

So called ‘bad days’ have a way of reminding us of what is important in life. We tend to think that our nicely laid plans that we have jotted down in bullet point form in our daily diaries, the alerts and reminders on our phones are just the way our day should go. But this is where we’re wrong! Yes, it’s great to set goals and we should. But let’s not be so determined to achieve them that we forget who is in control. Heads up – it’s not you!

There’s a word I want to remind you of. Surrender. Yes, only 9 little letters, but put them together and they hold great significance.

Surrender means to stop resisting and submit. It means to give up or hand over. It means to relinquish possession or control of something, and to give up in favour of another.

Do you see where I’m going with this? We have to learn to surrender our strategy, our plans, even our goals to the Lord. Instead of planning out our day and then praying our plan to the Lord, we need to pray that He will show us His plan and that we will learn to be content with exactly how He orders our day.

In the industry I work in, every day is unpredictable, full of twists and turns, and it doesn’t matter how much you plan, the plan always goes out the window and a new one has to be devised.

I sometimes wonder if God put me in this particular line of work to teach me patience! Something I struggle with. And possibly flexibility too. And resilience and perseverance and strength.

I don’t really get to order my day like I did when I was home every day. I have my day planned for me and then, things get turned upside down and I have to reshuffle, shift gears, readjust my thoughts and head off in a different direction.

Often my days are so full that I feel I’ve become one of those slider puzzles where you only have one spare space and limited moves. I’m finding that sometimes God has to throw some pieces out and put some others in, in order to make room for His move, in His direction, according to His perfect will.

It’s so hard sometimes to stop resisting God’s plans and simply submit. Surrender. Relinquish control. I find myself getting frustrated with God and impatient. I want rest. I want quiet. I want organized structure. I want the rush to slow down and yet, God sees fit to order my days and fill them with so many unknowns.  

I’m learning that despite the chaos and everchanging minutes of my days, God is still in control. And although I may not understand his ways, I do know that his ways are perfect.

Psalm 18:30 - As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

If I can’t see what God is doing and why he’s doing it, I know I can trust in his perfect character. I can count on his unchanging nature.

Now, I’m not writing this because I have arrived. Oh no! Far from it. I still have my days where I’m dissatisfied with God’s order and I pout and stomp my foot in a childish tantrum, hoping that He’ll change His mind and do things my way. But the older I get, and the more I study his Word, the more I learn about God, and the closer my walk is with Him, the more I feel I can surrender to His will and His way. I trust more. I love more. I rest more. I surrender more.

Yes, the days are still hard and often I resist the changes God makes, but from what I know of God, I can rest assured he has a plan and often he is keeping me safe from some unseen calamity or simply trying to do a purifying work in my life by sending trials. He longs for me to be more like him. He wants to draw me close and cleanse out the impurities, so that I can come forth as gold.

Job 23:10 KJV - But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Can I remind you that there are going to be days where you feel beaten down, trodden under, pulled in every direction? It’s on these days that you need to trust God more and cling desperately to Him, resting in His arms and relying on His strength to get you through.

Let go of the reins, and let God take control. Stop resisting and start surrendering. You will never be able to experience real peace until you fully surrender to His will.

Only then will a calm descend upon your soul. A peace that you know could only come from God. You’ll be able to take a deep breath and sink into His everlasting arms, content in knowing that He will do what is best for you and He will give you the strength you need for whatever your day brings.

You may fall into bed exhausted after a long and tiresome day, but if you have made an effort to go with God’s flow, not trying to swim upstream, against his current, fighting the waves, you can be comforted in knowing that he has had your best interest at heart all the day long and has kept you from things you knew nothing about, and given you opportunities you wouldn’t have had, had you not surrendered his will.

Choose to remember his goodness. Choose to remember your past victories. Choose to remember you have a hope and a future that is sure.

God is still good even in the midst of your doubts.

Psalm 77:11 KJV - I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

 

 

Not Down, But Through

 

Isaiah 43:2 KJV - When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

 

When thou passest through the waters
Deep the waves may be and cold,
But Jehovah is our refuge,
And His promise is our hold;
For the Lord Himself hath said it,
He, the faithful God and true:
”When thou comest to the waters,
Thou shalt not go down, but through.”

Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,
Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain,
Rolling surges of temptation
Sweeping over heart and brain —
They shall never overflow us,
For we know His word is true;
All His waves and all His billows,
He will lead us safely through.

Threatening breakers of destruction,
Doubt's insidious undertow,
Shall not sink us, shall not drag us
Out to ocean depths of woe;
For His promise shall sustain us,
Praise the Lord, whose Word is true!
We shall not go down, or under,
For He saith, " Thou passest through."

by Annie Johnson Flint

 

I came across this beautiful poem and was so struck by it, I had to share it and dig a little deeper into its meaning.

Isaiah 43:2 holds a very special place in my heart. I have a very tear-stained, handwritten copy of the verse on an index card that I feel I will keep forever because of the strength it gave me during one of the darkest times in my life. And even to this day, I can’t read it without tears welling up in my eyes as the emotions rush in and the memories along with it.

As I went through my time of trial, this verse became my lifeline. I claimed this promise on a daily basis and read and cried over it so many times, hence the tear stains.

But something I never fully grasped until reading this poem was the fact that the Lord says, through.

Through the waters. Through the rivers. Through the fire.

It clearly says that when we pass through, he will be with us. Not down, but through.

That means that it’s only temporary! It will pass.

Through. As in, moving in one side and out the other. Passing beyond. Crossing over.

And this passing through, with God walking alongside, is available to us, redeemed, forgiven, children of God.

Isaiah 43:1b - Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

And who is it that walks with us? God.

Isaiah 43:3a - For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour:

We can take great comfort in knowing who it is that is with us and that he will bring us through.

Take a look with me at some other places in Scripture that God reminds us that he will make a way through.

*Please don’t be tempted to skip over the verses without reading them fully. I know that some of you will say, “yeah, I know that verse” and you’ll neglect to read it. I know this because I have been guilty of doing it myself.

It’s easy to gloss over the Words of Scripture when we read something someone has written, thinking that the commentary is more important than the actual verse. How wrong that thinking is! God’s Word should never be read hastily and without thought. God’s Words are so far above man’s thinking and interpretation, that we need to read them carefully and thoughtfully and with a teachable heart, longing to understand what God is saying to us.

So, please, read on and don’t skip a single word!

Habakkuk 3:15 KJV - Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.

1 Corinthians 10:1 KJV - Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

Numbers 33:8 KJV - And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.

Hebrews 11:29 KJV - By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

So, what are all these references to the sea? We read the story in Exodus of the miraculous deliverance of the Israelites from Pharaoh’s army.

Exodus 14:16, 21-22 KJV - But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. ... And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

This is one Bible story I wish I could have experienced for myself. Can you just imagine walking in between a huge hallway of water rising on either side of you, dry ground underfoot, running your fingertips through the water as you watched the fish swim alongside, like a giant aquarium, crossing to the other side? And as if that wasn’t enough, seeing Pharaoh’s army be swallowed up by the river and swept away, never to be seen again! I don’t even know what expression to use here in this sentence! But wow! Wow! WOW!

All throughout history, and even today, God is watching over his children, and he is going with them as they pass through fiery trials, difficult days, depressing circumstances, loss and grief, pain and sorrow.

Why do we often say we went ‘through’ a trial? Because that’s what we do! We go through it. We don’t stay in it. Even though, at times, it seems never-ending. We go through it.

Even the most well-known Psalm reminds us of this fact.

Psalm 23:4 KJV - Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

With God’s help, we can go through our trials. He will be with us, and we will pass through the waters, the rivers, the fire, the loss of a loved one, the terrifying health diagnosis, the days of dark depression, the financial stress, the heavy workloads, the tiring days of raising little ones.

Whatever it is you’re facing, you can, and you will pass through it. With God’s help, you don’t have to stay there. You can pass through it.

Look down a little further in Isaiah 43.

Isaiah 43:16, 19 KJV - Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; ... Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

These verses tell us that God will make a way. It’s another way of saying that you’ll go through it. He can make a way where there is no way.

We see an obstacle. God sees an opportunity.

Not only does God help us to pass through and make a way, he also promises to go before us.

Deuteronomy 31:8 KJV - And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

Isaiah 52:12 KJV - For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.

Isaiah 45:2 KJV - I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

But can we, as Christians in 2023, take the Words of the Old Testament and apply them to our lives? Can we claim the promise that God will go before us?

We can and we should! If God loved us so much that he sent his only Son to die a cruel death on a cross, shedding his blood so that we could have eternal life, then how much more will he be with us today? Walking with us, making a way, going before us as we live our lives here on this earth in this day, at this time in history.

His promise still holds true. He will not forsake us.

God told Joshua that he would be with the people of Israel as they went into the promised land, and he will be with us as we venture into an unknown future.

Joshua 1:9 KJV - Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

I found many references in the Bible with the sentences, “God is with thee, you, us and God was with them” etc. And God hasn’t changed. He is still the same. He is still with us.

Whatever it is you’re facing today, take comfort in knowing that God knows all about it. He sees your tears, he hears your cries, he knows your hurt and he will help you go through it. He will make a way. He will go before you and beside you and he’ll even carry you when you can’t take another step.

You may have to go through the waters. You may have to swim across raging rivers. You may even have to go through the fire, but you can come out the other side, dry, unharmed, without even the smell of smoke on your clothes.

God will bring you through.

 

Psalm 46:1-3, 7

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,

and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,

 though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. ...

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.